Interswitch, Compass Plus Technologies partner to ease payments across Africa

Interswitch, a digital commerce company, and Compass Plus Technologies, provider of retail banking and electronic payments software, have announced a partnership to further strengthen Interswitch’s payment card processing capacity in Africa.

The strategic partnership would see Interswitch utilise TranzAxis, an award-winning, token-based, cloud-native technology and other innovations developed by Compass Plus Technologies for Verve, Visa and Mastercard credit card processing.

Mr Akeem Lawal, the Managing Director, Payment Processing and Switching (Interswitch Purepay), stated this in a statement on Wednesday in Lagos.

Lawal said that the collaboration forms part of Interswitch’s comprehensive response to the evolving and constantly expanding demand by the African market.

He added that the partnership would boost Interswitch presence across the continent as it continues to deliver on its promise as the gateway to Africa’s payment ecosystem.

“We are pleased to announce this partnership with Compass Plus Technologies which aligns with our commitment to making payments easy and convenient.

“Migrating our card processes to the TranzAxis platform will allow us to further improve our service offerings as we remain focused on providing cutting-edge solutions that optimise service delivery.

“Currently, six banks across Africa have been onboarded on the new platform, resulting in a major collaboration with Sterling Bank of Nigeria to launch the first Verve credit card in the country,” he said.

Also speaking, Adil Ahmed, Vice President and Deputy Managing Director, Middle East and Africa, Compass Plus Technologies, said that Interswitch has always strived to drive positive change in Middle East and Africa region.

“We are delighted to partner with Interswitch, one of the biggest processors in Africa, and now that they have TranzAxis to support their ambitions, they will continue to revolutionise Africa’s payments space in the region

“This will further strengthen the Verve payments network, and manage their Visa and Mastercard credit card business more efficiently.

“By utilising TranzAxis, Interswitch can rely on its extensive Application Programme Interface (API) capabilities for seamless integration, which significantly accelerates time to market.

“It also provides operational workflows to segregate system set up in compliance with rules and controls required to scale and meet unique market requirements, “Ahmed noted.

Our correspondent reports that the new platform had been deployed in one of Interswitch Group’s technology hubs domiciled in Nairobi, Kenya.

The platform would have the capability to process transactions for Interswitch clients across Africa, with localised instances for each country tailored to meet clients’ unique needs.